The longest-serving female senator in US history passes away

The New York Times on September 29 quoted a family member of Senator Dianne Feinstein as saying that the Democratic congresswoman from California passed away on the evening of September 28, at the age of 90.

Nữ thượng nghị sĩ phục vụ lâu nhất trong lịch sử Mỹ từ trần - Ảnh 1. — Senator Dianne Feinstein has died at the age of 90.

Feinstein's health has declined in recent years and she has had memory problems. The problems worsened in recent months when Senator Feinstein contracted shingles, which caused serious complications and left her using a wheelchair in Congress .

Nữ thượng nghị sĩ phục vụ lâu nhất trong lịch sử Mỹ từ trần - Ảnh 2. — Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a wheelchair at the Capitol in May

Ms. Feinstein grew up in San Francisco and graduated from Stanford University. In 1969, she was elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors and became its President in 1978. That same year, she became Mayor of San Francisco and was elected to the US Senate after a special election in 1992, becoming the first female senator from California. She was re-elected five times and became the longest-serving female senator in US history. Ms. Feinstein was also the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In February, Ms. Feinstein announced that she would not run for re-election next year.

Nữ thượng nghị sĩ phục vụ lâu nhất trong lịch sử Mỹ từ trần - Ảnh 3. — Dianne Feinstein in 2010

Anti-gun cause

According to Reuters, Senator Feinstein's political career was shaped by guns. She became mayor of San Francisco in 1978 after her predecessor, George Moscone, and a colleague on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors were assassinated.

The horrific memories never faded, and Ms. Feinstein later drafted the federal ban on military- style assault weapons, which took effect from 1994 to 2004.

Nữ thượng nghị sĩ phục vụ lâu nhất trong lịch sử Mỹ từ trần - Ảnh 4. — Ms. Feinstein spoke about the CIA's 2014 detention and interrogation program report.

Ms. Feinstein led an effort to enact stricter gun control laws, including an assault weapons ban, after the 2012 Connecticut elementary school shooting that left 26 people dead. The bill faced opposition from Republicans and gun rights groups and failed in the Senate.

During her tenure as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee (2009-2015), Ms. Feinstein's committee released a report describing the CIA's secret program of detention, interrogation, and torture of terrorist suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

She called the CIA's actions a stain on American values and history. "History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by the rule of law and our willingness to face the ugly truth and say 'never again,'" Feinstein said.

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